Altered Trajectory
by Terapsina
Summary: When Sara leaves for Starling City, once again by herself... a restless Nyssa follows. Fix-It fic for 3x01 (The Calm).


Disclaimer: Not mine. If it had been mine, Sara would still be alive. They suck.

AN: That episode was the incarnation of everything that's wrong with television. I HAD to fix it. So I did.

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>* <strong>Altered Trajectory<strong> *  
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Nyssa shouldn't be here. The mission on which her father sent Sara did not require more than one person. Nyssa knows that. But ever since she learned that Sara would be returning to Starling City there's been an uneasy feeling at the bottom of her stomach, the same feeling that had passed unnoticed the day she herself had been sent away, unknowing that once she'd return home, her Canary would not be there to greet her.

But that time Sara had acted strange. Nervous and… sad. This time she parted with a kiss, and a smile and a promise to come back.

Nyssa trusts Sara to not do to her again what she did a year ago, she does, or she thinks she does, but the itch of the fear had persisted. For three hours after Sara had gone, Nyssa had been left feeling like that had been the last time she'd ever see the person to whom her heart belongs.

So finally, unable to ignore it a moment longer, Nyssa booked her own flight and followed.

Sara does not see or sense her as she observes from her own rooftop, a building across from where Sara meets with her sister.

And everything looks perfectly peaceful. Sara is not acting like she plans to vanish once more, and yet the uneasy feeling grows louder with every beat of Nyssa's heart. The hairs on the back of her neck are standing at attention, her bow is clenched in the palm of her hand. Her eyes roam across the horizon and through every shadow, looking for the source of the disquiet that's been with her for the past 24 hours.

There's nothing there.

Or there isn't, until Sara's sister leaves and there's just her beloved, with her back to the rooftop and her eyes on the dark city sky… and a person dressed in black, a hood hiding their face, slipping out of the shadows Nyssa's eyes had passed over moments ago.

Without conscious thought Nyssa is already drawing an arrow in her bow as Sara turns around to face the second person, and as she sees a bow in the arms of the unknown threat, she takes less than a second to take aim and shoot. Her arrow pierces the new archer's palm and Nyssa's eyes quickly dart towards Sara.

There's an arrow in her shoulder, but even from this distance Nyssa can see that she's managed to alter the trajectory of the initial aim and Sara's injury isn't fatal. No, already Sara is ducking for cover and reaching for her staff.

Sara's alive. But she wouldn't have been if the shot had landed as intended, her eyes zero back in on the would be killer with a glare. They will die. Slowly and in agony, they will die.

Nyssa aims again, this time her arrow lands into the concrete wall of the building, creating for her a way to get across by sliding down the wire. Her knees bend upon contact with the rooftop floor and she rolls with the impact.

In three steps she's reached her target and is swinging her bow for a strike against their head. Her opponent foolishly bends to their side and meets her left elbow with their chest. Next Nyssa feels a strike to her knees but her rage swallows the pain and she only stumbles for a moment.

But then she hears a choked scream from behind her and has only enough sense to aim in quick succession for her opponent's solar plexus with one hand and their injured hand with the other, before she turns around to face Sara. She's on one knee, pale and sweating, and with the arrow in her hand.

No… Sara would know better than to-

Focusing on the bloodied object she breathes out in relief, Sara didn't take it out, she only broke off the end of it for easier movement. Her reckless,_ stubborn_ Canary.

There's the sound of metal doors slamming against the hinges and she looks behind her at the now empty rooftop. She curses, but does not follow. Revenge can wait. Sara needs help right now.

Nyssa goes to her and drops to her own knees, gently taking Sara's shoulder in her hand, she swipes the fingertips of her other one over the wound, flinching along with Sara as she does it, and then smells the blood on her fingers. No poison. Good.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

She hesitates before answering. Uncertain how Sara will take it.

"I do not know, I felt… restless after you left."

There's a shadow of pain that crosses Sara's face and Nyssa knows it's not because of her injury.

"I'm not going to leave you again."

Nyssa rips off a piece of cloth from the ribbon encircling her hips.

"I know."

"Do you?"

Nyssa takes a moment to consider the best, the truly honest, answer while she wraps the injury in the black silk. She's almost surprised herself with the truth she comes to.

"Yes."

Sara's uninjured hand moves to cup Nyssa's face, she leans into the touch, letting a tear roll down her cheek. She almost lost her. Again. Not by Sara's choice this time, but she almost lost her all the same. Nyssa knows her heart wouldn't have been able to take it, she's not sure her mind could have either.

Sara leans forward until their lips touch and Nyssa's heart finally steadies. She smells blood, but under the warm coppery scent there's the familiar tang of orchids and the salty seawater that never seems to have left her, and the all encompassing light that is_ Sara_.

"I'm alright, Nyssa. I'm alright."

Those words remind her of the person who almost stole Sara's life and the anger that had quieted in Sara's presence awakens anew.

"Who was it?"

"Nyssa I-"

"Who _was it?_"

Sara tells her. Nyssa's anger before is nothing compared to the fury that steals her breath now.


End file.
